Replacement or reuse? The choice between demolition and life cycle extension from a sustainable viewpoint

Abstract

What is better: renovation or new construction? Following the plenary debate on the ENHR 2007 conference in Rotterdam we continued our search for the answer to this question. The choice between reuse and replacement of existing buildings is a vital but very difficult one, involving a wide range of aspects and affecting contradictory and often conflicting interests. In the past, building quality and public health played a decisive role in improvement of the housing stock, mainly by slum clearance. More recently functional and economic considerations tend to dominate. Though environmental aspects like energy consumption and building waste are of growing importance, sustainability does not seem to be a major aspect in decision making about demolition or life cycle extension up till now. In the past years we studied the decision making about demolition in the Netherlands. Based on the available literature and statistical data we analysed the actual practice in the Netherlands to identify the ‘demolishers’ and their motives. In addition to this research we made an inventory of the literature about the environmental impact of reuse and replacement. Our paper gives a concise overview of the results. Overlooking the results so far we conclude that life cycle extension by renovation and reuse of existing stock is generally more sustainable. However replacement seems to increase in the Netherlands. Therefore we discuss ways to stimulate ‘demolishers’ to give more weight to sustainability and pay more attention to reuse.